The Machine
| Last= | Latest= | Creator =Harold Finch Nathan Ingram | Purpose=Mass surveillance system | Status=Active | Activated = February 24, 2005-May 5, 2015 | Owner=U.S. Government ( Former ) IFT ( Former ) | Location=In the subway's super-computer, In a briefcase National grid under Thornhill Utilities (Formerly ), ( previously Hanford Nuclear Reservation, Hanford, WA ) | Gallery= The Machine }} The Machine is a computer system built and designed by Harold Finch and Nathan Ingram for a secret operation within the United States government, known by the project name "Northern Lights". The Machine analyzes feeds from domestic organizations such as the National Security Agency, and foreign agencies including Interpol to predict terrorist attacks and modify intelligence reports to include "relevant" data that will allow the government to forestall terrorist activity. Combined with data collected from various other sources, including video footage, phone calls (landline, VOIP, mobile), GPS, electronic transactions, e-mail, and social media, it is able to accurately predict violent acts. History : Development After September 11, 2001, Congress created the cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security via the Patriot Act giving DHS and its affiliated agencies the right to read email and monitor phone calls. To handle these data, DHS needed a computer system that could scan through all the information and identify terrorists before they could act. After trials with projects like Trailblazer, TIA, and Stellar Wind were unsuccessful, the Machine was commissioned. Development was handed over to Nathan Ingram's company, IFT. When the Machine was completed, Ingram sold it to the government for $1.00. The Machine went online on February 24, 2005. Virus Following orders from a mysterious third party, Kara Stanton uploads a virus onto the internet which initially seems to affect the Machine in such a way that it fails to send some of the numbers to Finch in time. Finch monitors the virus's progress over time, as he tries to trace it. Eventually, it becomes apparent the Machine's output is becoming erratic, and in time, that numbers are being delayed. The delayed generation of numbers leads to the deaths of Alan Fahey, Cal Beecher, Bill Szymanski‎‎, and Dr. Richard Nelson. Along with the increasing flashes of coded blue screen, the delays suggest that the Machine might be failing. As Zero Day for the virus approaches, The Machine begins to be overwhelmed by a deluge of false data and stops issuing numbers, leading to a sharp increase in successful premeditated homicides within the city. Glitches : ]] Over the course of , , , , , and , the Machine experiences a number of glitches as blue screens constantly interrupt its perspective on video feeds. Eventually, at the end of , as the virus begins its attack on the Machine, the monitoring boxes begin to dance across the screen and disappear as the picture degrades. Finally, the Machine displays a red coded screen stating that the signal is corrupted, followed by a series of messages, each originally dissolving from western to Greek characters as its primary operations shut down: Vlcsnap-2013-04-28-02h06m03s182.png|Major errors encountered Vlcsnap-2013-04-28-02h06m11s5.png|Fatal error, Threat to the system Vlcsnap-2013-04-28-02h07m12s101.png|'Primary operations shutting down' ]] By , neither the government nor Finch have received a number for ten days. However, it appears that the Machine is still generating the irrelevant list, as it tries to contact Finch after determining that Carter may be in danger. The Machine also sends Finch the Social Security number of its fake human identity, Ernest Thornhill, thus revealing its daily activity reentering memories. Debug Mode The true nature of the virus is to crash the Machine with false data and trigger a "hard reset", after which the Machine reboots and calls a pay phone located in the New York Public Library, seeking admin support. At the very end of the reboot process, The Machine displays binary machine language code that translates to Latin "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" or "Who will watch the watchmen?" The person who answers The Machine's call is given full admin access to the Machine for 24 hours, which Root refers to as "God Mode". By splicing the telephone lines, however, the call can be directed to more than one pay phone at once, allowing whoever answers the second phone to be given access as well. Once the 24 hours are up, their admin access is removed and they have no further communications with the Machine. Thornhill Utilites When Root, Finch, Reese and Shaw arrive at the nuclear facility in Hanford, Washington, they discover that engineers shipped the Machine away — over the span of 5 weeks, node by node to an unknown location, supposedly on the orders of Special Counsel, who denied giving the orders. Using the source code from the Ordos Laptop on which Decima Technologies built its virus, Finch was able to "set the Machine free," before Root even could, teaching it to protect itself by ordering its own relocation. The Machine didn't moved itself into a data farm but hid itself in the electrical grid of the US. It uses the power grid as a giant brain with the help of boxes installed and maintained by Thornhill Utilities. The boxes allow the Machine's digital signals to travel in the unused space of the copper power wires. The Briefcase After the Machine is forced to give up its location , Samaritan floods the grid with energy that drives the Machine across the country to an electrical substation in New York. As a last resort, Finch and Root download the Machine's core heuristics — information just enough to rebuild it — off the power lines and compress it into the RAM in a briefcase using Caleb's algorithm. In this state the Machine is so compressed that it's not able to process information or communicate. Classification of Data The Machine sorts through all available information and categorizes persons of interest into relevant (national security risk) and irrelevant (ordinary risk) cases. When a relevant threat has been identified, the information is forwarded to the NSA or the FBI , without leaving any indication as to where the information originated. Every night at midnight, the Machine deletes the list of irrelevant numbers: violent crimes, domestic violence or other premeditated acts that do not threaten national security. Finch later comes to believe that the irrelevant list is as important as the relevant list after Ingram dies in a violent event deemed irrelevant by the Machine. Finch therefore utilizes a back door into the Machine originally put in place by Ingram in order to access the irrelevant list. The Machine categorizes each POI based on their actions to determine whether they are the victim or the perpetrator. ]] Access The location of the Machine has changed several times. After it was handed over to the government, it was shipped from Des Moines, Iowa to Salt Lake City, Utah, then to its final location further west. Finch stated on several occasions that he has no way of accessing the Machine, and that he also doesn’t know where it is located. However, after speaking with Northern Lights engineer Lawrence Szilard, he admits he can lead Root to where it is located. Ingram, who was looking for the Machine at one time, was able to pinpoint three likely locations, each of them U.S. nuclear processing facilities, that Northern Lights could potentially use to house The Machine. Other clues allow Root, Finch, Reese and Shaw to single out a nuclear facility in Hanford, Washington. According to Finch, the Machine has been coded so that it cannot be altered in any way unless an individual has physical access to its hardware or in response to a cyber-attack. It is able to update, maintain, and repair itself. The Machine was programmed to delete its memory every night at midnight, and then reinstantiate and rebuild itself. Because of this, it has no stored memory other than its basic programming and only has a database to process. To work around this problem, the Machine established the false human identity Ernest Thornhill, a technology millionaire. Using this identity, it set up a company and hired employees to reenter the coded memories it prints out each night. With the virus slowly infecting it, the Machine also had Ernest Thornhill buy pay phone companies all over New York City. The Machine contacts Finch or Reese when it perceives a threat it regards as imminent and categorizes as irrelevant. It is unclear to what extent the Machine is self-aware or how far Finch is able to control it. Flashbacks indicate that the Machine once took an active interest in safeguarding Finch, but he has since set limits on such conduct. Finch is adamant that the Machine has no form of remote access, as it could be used by a hacker to gain control. . Under certain circumstances, the system administrator (Finch) or a recognized asset (Reese) can communicate with the Machine by talking into any security or traffic camera. , The cameras flash a red light to indicate that the Machine is consequently processing the request. The Machine responds via pay phones or mobile phones. The machine is presently located in the subway cart in the underground subway base that the team has been using. It is currently being used as an "Open System" Allowing assets to interact with the machine in never before seen ways. Assessment : The Machine uses various "machine learning" techniques to determine the identity, location, and intentions of monitored people. In , the Machine initiate the following subsets on booting up: CORE ANALYTICS NEURAL NETWORKS HEURISTIC ENGINES RECURSION PROCESSORS EVOLUTIONARY GENERATORS BAYESIAN NETWORKS DATA ACQUISITION CRYPTOGRAPHIC ALGORITHMS DOCUMENT PROCESSORS COMPUTATIONAL LINGUISTICS VOICEPRINT IDENTIFICATION NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING FACIAL RECOGNITION GAIT ANALYSIS BIOMETRIC RECOGNITION SUBJECT IDENTIFICATION PATTERN MINING INTEL INTERPRETATION THREAT DETECTION THREAT CLASSIFICATION DISSEMINATION PROTOCOLS CONTINUITY-OF-OPERATIONS PROTOCOLS After that, it initiates infiltrating all the databases to which it has access. Simulation Development Finch initially programmed the Machine with the ability to create simulations of different scenarios to determine which choices it should make. This would allow it to better fulfill its purpose. Finch later taught it to how to play chess and the importance of making good decisions. How it Works Since the Machine is a highly complex system with very high computing power, the amount of calculations and simulations it can make is incomparable to a human. The Machine has been shown to create and process through highly-detailed, highly-accurate simulations in mere fractions of a second. When the Machine analyzes its options, the simulations are displayed on what looks like a decision tree), with the results of each option being very different from each other. POI_0411_Evaluating_Strategies_Option_336742.png|The Machine viewing it's options then creating a simulation POI_0411_Option_336742_Undesired_Outcome.png|Simulation displays undesired outcome... POI 0411 Option 336742 Discarded Simulation Terminated.png|...and is discarded. History Only two episodes display the Machine using its simulation feature: most of it appears in the episode If-Then-Else, then briefly again at the end of Asylum. In the aformentioned episode Finch, Root, Fusco, and Reese and assigned by the Machine to prevent Samaritan from collapsing the US economy at the Stock Exchange. When the team comes under attack from Samaritan, the Machine realizes that it has a very small limited time and very few viable options to rescue them and also complete their mission. The Machine then (in real time) begins analyzing its options, the best of which are then simulated. When the Machine finishes a simulation with an undesired outcome it discards it then cycles back to the present, in real time and may choose another simulation. Communication :For a list of messages relayed by the Machine, see List of the Machine%27s Messages Primary Operations The Machine inserts relevant information (by way of a subject's Social Security number) into briefing reports destined for FBI or NSA executives. While most believe the information to be the work of various intelligence agencies, some are aware that the numbers are gathered by special means, referring to this entity as "Research". After Vigilance leaked documents regarding Northern Lights, the governmental agencies involved have severed their link with the machine, believing to have shut it down, and have ceased operations which act on relevant numbers. These operations have been re-assigned to the Analog Interface (Root). Contingency (Secondary Operations) The "Contingency" routine is an additional function added by Nathan Ingram just before the Machine was shut down and packed for transport in 2009. Initially unknown to Finch, Ingram created this function to gain access to those numbers that were sorted out as non-relevant. Shortly after the Machine left IFT, the Machine sent the first irrelevant number to Ingram. Finch found out about Contingency in 2010 (Day 3178, or September 13). When confronted by Finch, Ingram admitted that he received numbers from the Machine, allowing him to save five of the twelve reported up to that point. Finch insisted that they should not play God and tried to delete Contingency. However, this wasn't possible, so Finch deleted Ingram's status as an auxiliary administrator and halted Contingency's processes. Finch reactivated Contingency the night after Ingram's death (Day 3191, or September 26), having observed that the Machine had classified Ingram's murder as "non-relevant". Finch reprogrammed the Contingency function so that instead of issuing the POI's social security number directly, the number was coded to the Dewey Decimal System utilizing books found in The Library and communicated via public pay phones. The "Irrelevant" List The Machine uses a code based on the Dewey Decimal System to communicate the Social Security numbers of non-relevant persons of interest to Finch by phone (call or text message). He receives coded titles and authors' initials of books that are cataloged by the DDS. Combining their DDS numbers allows him to put together the SSN. Dewey2.jpg|Books with the call signs Family, Alpha, Mike; Uncertainty, Romeo, Kilo; Reflections, Juliet, Oscar SSN.jpg|... form the Social Security Number for Leon Tao Tertiary Operations After its hard reset in the late night of April 30 (Day 4138), the Machine created a third category of numbers for what it terms Tertiary Operations . The Machine has only directly told Root about these people. Root's kidnap and temporary use of Shaw to rescue one of them enabled Finch and Reese to learn of this new category. The people Root saved ended up being a team of hackers brought together to give Samaritan seven key blind spots. People Who Know About the Machine Prior to the inception of the Machine, there were seven people aware of Northern Lights, and who worked on different facets of the production and logistics. This group was classified top secret. The identities of five of the original seven are known: *Control *Special Counsel *Denton Weeks *Alicia Corwin *Nathan Ingram In actuality, there were eight people who knew about the Machine. Denton Weeks contracted with Nathan Ingram for his company to develop the technology behind the Machine and the construction of the physical system. Ingram secretly brought Finch into the process as he was not personally capable of completing the project on his own. Finch's identity and participation was known only to Ingram. Others came to know about the Machine later: *Ross Garrison: Brought into the project to oversee it after the Machine's development *Lawrence Szilard: Oversaw the construction of the Machine's original housing *Daniel Aquino: Built the housing for the Machine and had some knowledge of it. *John Reese: Learned about the Machine when be began working with Finch *Root: Learned about the Machine at an undetermined point in time, likely when she hacked Finch's network *Henry Peck: Speculated the Machine had been built; suspicions later confirmed by Finch *Sameen Shaw: Learned about the Machine from Reese and discusses it with him after the reset *Hersh: Originally appointed a white square which became yellow after he took over Special Counsel's role *A caretaker: Although it is unknown whether he knew what he was assigned to guard. *Joss Carter: Figured out on her own after working with Finch for some time; suspicions later confirmed by Finch *Arthur Claypool: Learned about the Machine from Finch *John Greer: The conversation with Root indicates he knows about the Machine *Peter Collier: The conversation with Finch indicates he knows about the Machine *Daniel Casey, Jason Greenfield, and Daizo: Learned about the Machine at some time during their involvement with Root (most likely from her), as is apparent when the Machine categorizes them with yellow boxes. *Vigilance members, 12 jurors, reporters, and a defense attorney at the kangaroo court: Finch confirms the existence of the Machine and how it operates in order to prevent Control's execution. The Machine does not assign yellow boxes because we are seeing them from Samaritan's POV. Few if any survive the explosion in the courthouse. *Jeremy Lambert: Speaks directly to the Machine in *Martine Rousseau: Discusses the Machine with Greer and Lambert *Gabriel Hayward: Samaritan's interface talks about the Machine with Root *Sulaiman Khan: Learned the existence of Samaritan and the Machine from Greer Machine Point of View (MPOV) Colored Boxes People The Machine applies differently colored boxes in order to categorize the people it observes. Boxes can change as the Machine re-evaluates its assessment of the individuals it monitors. (white because he doesn't know about the Machine) and Reese (yellow because he knows) turn red after the Machine learns that they were investigating Finch. ]] Vehicles Wheeled vehicles (such as cars, trucks and buses) are coded based on status of individual passengers within. Watercraft and Aircraft The Machine also categorizes and marks watercraft and aircraft. Boxes used by Season Season 1= – (This style is also seen in Season 4 flashbacks.) |-|Season 2 (Episode 1 – 15)= – |-|Season 2 (Episode 16 – 22)= – |-|Season 3–present= – present Simplified Simulation To evaluate strategies, the Machine simulates some of the possible future scenarios. During these simulations the boxes appear in a usual way, but it can simplify parts of these simulations in order to save time. In these cases the boxes appear with a simplified style. Miscellaneous Symbols The Machine can also recognize celestial objects such as Mars and the moon, and can access satellite imagery to track air traffic or individual planes . It also identifies TV Antennas. Exclusion Zones The Machine monitors areas around potential terrorist targets, such as sky lanes, shipping lanes, and major railroads. Exclusion zones are coded in white or red, which may represent a threat appraisal, or the value of the target. High Priority Area The Machine monitors the walkway edge of the subway as a high priority area. While the trains are running, the walkways are coded with a bold red and white line. When the train stops, the Machine adds a chevron to mark the direction the train is heading to. Running_Train4x04.png|High Priority Area while the train is running . Stopped_Train4x04.png|High Priority Area while the train is stopped. . Underground Trains The Machine can identify subway trains and marks the trains with it's name and route number along with the total passenger and the number of violent threat (if any). E_line_4x4.png| The 6 Lexington Avenue Local Express . D_line_4x11.png| The D Sixth Avenue Express . Notes * The producers' commentary on the Season 1 DVD confirms that in flashbacks, the Machine reviews old footage in the present, meaning that it assigns the colored squares according to what it knows about the characters in the current timeline. Therefore, the yellow square it assigned Reese in various flashbacks before Finch told him about the Machine may only indicate that the Machine uses a present day indicator, not that Reese knew about the Machine before meeting Finch. Although it should be noted that in a flashback from God Mode, Hersh is depicted with a white square indicating that he hadn't yet known about the Machine; yet, in the present he is depicted with a yellow square, presumably indicating that he found out about the Machine sometime between 2010 and 2013; however, that is not the case. Hersh does not find out about the Machine's existence until the end of the episode, after he kills Special Counsel. The flashbacks which designate him a white box are seen before Hersh finds out about the Machine, therefore the commentary by the producers still holds true. There is only one exception (or error) regarding this statement: In The Devil's Share, which contains multiple flashbacks of all main characters except Root, this holds true for Reese, as his flashback from 2008 depicts him with a yellow square, indicating that the Machine still categorizes those in flashbacks according to their present-day relationship to the Machine, however, in Shaw's flashback to 2005, she is depicted with a white square, which makes perfect sense for the mythology of the show, since at that time, she was being stripped of her medical license, had not yet joined the Marines, therefore had not yet come to work for the ISA and become an asset catalyst for the Machine, nor had she known about the Machine. This is however, the only instance which is in direct conflict with the producers' statement that the Machine reviews flashbacks in the present, because at that point, Shaw had known about the Machine for several months. *Palantir, a CIA-funded enterprise software company whose name comes from the seeing stones in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy epic The Lord of the Rings bears an eerie resemblance to the Machine. Since its development in 2004, the software has been able to locate terrorists, prevent bank fraud and track disease outbreaks using data-mining tools that allow users to comb through and make connections in massive sets of widely disparate data. Palantir is able to "learn" when new data is uploaded to its huge server farms. U.S. military intelligence has used Palantir to improve their ability to predict locations of Improvised Explosive Devices in Afghanistan. Palantir has been valued at between $5 to $8 billion. *The Domain Awareness System created by the NYPD in conjunction with Microsoft at a cost of $40 million has some similarities to the Machine. The Domain Awareness System was profiled in an episode of [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/manhunt-boston-bombers.html Nova] about the hunt for the Boston Marathon bombers. The system has been referenced several times in the series: in , IAB uses satellite photos from Domain Awareness to identify possible gravesites where Detective Stills might be buried; in , it is used to track Scott Rollins' stolen SUV; in , it is mentioned that funding ran out for the project in the run-down area where Genrika Zhirova lived; and in , it is the source of information that Samaritan uses during its beta test. Trivia * The Machine uses Futura as its interface font. Early, simpler builds used a font that closely resembles several different fonts in the Call family, although it is not an exact match to any of them. This unknown font is also used for the labels and timestamps of most of the surveillance cameras featured in the show. *The extent of Nathan Ingram's contingency protocol inside the Machine is unknown. During Finch's absence the Machine tasked Reese with the job of searching and protecting the numbers that came up, thus implying that Reese or any immediate asset are part of that contingency. * The $1 fee charged for creating the Machine echoes the $1 fee DuPont charged the US government for the company's work on the Manhattan Project. *In , the Machine is referred to as "Research" by Sameen Shaw and Michael Cole, as it provides them the SSNs from the relevant list. However, in the first encounter between Shaw and Finch, she is informed by Finch that "Research" is non-existent but full of secrecy, but that ultimately they both work for the same entity. *The Machine is stored on IFT Sabre Blade 2437 servers which are renamed Dell PowerEdge SC1425 servers. * During , a previous generation of The Machines source code was shown on screen. The source code displayed was that of the Stuxnet worm. Also, out of 43 versions of the Machine, only one learned how to care. The rest either tried to escape to the real world, kill Harold, or kill the other versions. * The Machine so far provides the point of view for all of the flashbacks appeared in the show, except for a flashback in and (by Reese) and the flashbacks in and (both by Samaritan). The only other exception is throughout the episode B.S.O.D., the flashbacks to 2006 of Finch with Nathan Ingram and Finch with Grace are shown from the perspective of neither the Machine nor Samaritan; therefore it can be assumed that they are from the perspective of Harold's mind, although during his flashback with Grace, they are briefly seen from the Machine's POV. There are also several mental flashbacks to YHWH by Fusco and Finch, and a brief flashback to God Mode by Finch right before he boards the Manhattan-bound Ferry with Reese; it is implied that these brief flashbacks are from the perspective of the minds of their respective characters. * The Machine is first described using "she/her" pronouns in "Liberty" by Root. It is implied that this is how the Machine asked to be addressed but this is unconfirmed. Up to this point the Machine had only been directly referred to as "it". * In when the Machine reboots, it categorizes the team as threats. It takes on a different approach, judging the team on their history and past sins, because after being compressed and decompressed, it lost its grip on time, causing it to believe that "today" was every day; reliving everything negative it had ever seen, including Harold's 42 attempts to kill it in early development, and John's evil deeds with the CIA. It could not prioritize them as good people because it had no anchor in time, and rather than reviewing the numbers, it looked for perceived threats due to its instinct for self-preservation even going so far as to send an assassin to kill John. * The Machine is also revealed to have lost information due to Samaritan's grid shutdown, as shown in much of the information on people are "REDACTED". Harold, however, figures out a way to fix both, the loss of data, and its perception of him and Root as threats: he shows it a picture of every person the Machine helped them to save, along with a complete description of what they did to help that person, starting with Megan Tillman from and ending with Grace's rescue from , this jogs the Machine's memory of each person thanking the team for their effors. (Going as far back as Joey Durban from and as far forward as Malcom Booker from and Dani Silva from .) This has the effect that Harold intended; not only does it serve as the Machine's anchor from which to perceive time, but it reminds The Machine of the good Harold, John, Root, Shaw and Fusco do and have done, re-designating Harold as "Admin", John as "Primary Asset" and Root as "Analog Interface", and restoring The Machine's memory. By the next episode, the Machine is shown to be fully functional once again, so much so prompting John to call it Machine 2.0. External Links *Technologies and Analyses in CBS’ Person of Interest *The Machine is real es:La máquina Machine Machine